


Merry Christmas!

by DeckofDragons



Series: A Hat in Christmas [3]
Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Gift Giving, Hat Kid is the sweetest, Her best friend is Snatcher, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:55:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21951814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: Hat Kid wants to wish all her friends a Merry Christmas.
Relationships: DJ Grooves & Hat Kid (A Hat in Time), Hat Kid & Mustache Girl (A Hat in Time), Hat Kid & Snatcher (A Hat in Time), Hat Kid & The Captain, The Conductor & Hat Kid (A Hat in Time), The Conductor/DJ Grooves (A Hat in Time)
Series: A Hat in Christmas [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580476
Comments: 4
Kudos: 141





	Merry Christmas!

Snatcher’s cottage tree house thing was warm and cozy, closed off from the elements and a fire burning merrily in the fireplace. Hat Kid could happily stay for _hours_ , all day even, especially since Snatcher was for the first time ever totally chill with her being here. And he liked her gift! It looked good on him too, better than her own hat had. But alas, as great as this was, she had other gifts to deliver too; Snatcher may be her Best Friend Forever but he wasn’t her only friend.

So, after reading the first few chapters of the book he’d given her – an exciting gift because she hadn’t expected him to give her anything at all – she bookmarked her page and jumped up to her feet. “Heyo,” she said with a small wave, prompting Snatcher to lower his book to look at her. “Thank you again for the gift and a place to warm up but I have other gifts I need to deliver too. Don’t worry though, I’ll come back here when I’m done because I don’t want you to be lonely.”

“Don’t bother,” Snatcher replied with what probably counted as an eyeroll for him. “Spend your Christmas with someone who cares.”

Hat Kid smiled at him. “I will.” She was pretty sure he cared and was just being ‘soon-deh-ray’ about it. “See you again soon.” She wriggled her fingers at him as she pulled out her phone opened the app on it to call her back up to her ship.

In the interest of convivence, she’d piled all the gifts she had up in the main area, next to where the ship’s system dropped her off at when beaming her up into the main room. She studied the pile for a few seconds before grabbing the one on the top. It was for the Captain, she owed him _big_ for destroying his ship even if he didn’t know it was her – she’d been a fool to think her experience piloting a spaceship would qualify her to pilot a sea ship too. She’d _wanted_ to get him a new boat but… they were expensive so she’d had to settle for getting him a model boat instead. Hopefully he’d like it.

She pulled out her phone and pressed more buttons, telling her ship to beam her down onto the dock. She’d scouted out the Captain’s land abode while go so she was able to skip right to it.

One of his seal crew answered her knock almost right away. “Hewwo Miss, nice to see you again. What are you doing here on Christmas?”

“Merry Christmas.” Hat Kid felt a tad guilty for not getting the crew gifts too, she’d wanted to but she had no idea how many of them there were or what they might want so… she hadn’t. “I brought a gift for the Captain.”

The seal’s face lit up even more than before. “Captain, Captain,” he called as he danced back into the house. “The little hatted miss is back and she bought you a gift.”

Taking the open door as an invitation, Hat Kid stepped inside. The interior was decorated to have a similar feel to a boat. There was even a broken steering wheel hung up on the all… hopefully it wasn’t from the ship Hat Kid had crashed. She would’ve looked around a bit more but all the other seals were coming into the living room along with the Captain.

“Merry Christmas,” she said again, holding the gift towards him.

“Aw Pup, you shouldn’t have,” the Captain said with a slight frown.

“Well I _did_ because _I_ wanted to. So, take it.” She pushed it towards him again; she refused to take ‘no’ for answer.

With a sigh, the Captain accepted the gift. He opened and pulled the model ship out.

“I couldn’t get you a real boat because they’re too expensive so I got a small one instead. You like it?”

“I suppose I do, thanks. I can put it up on my mantel or on my desk on my next ship,” the Captain replied. “But anyway, since you’re here, you got someone to spend Christmas with? If not, me and the crew wouldn’t mind having you’re here I guess.”

Hat Kid waited for the crew’s chorus of agreement to finish before replying. “Thank you for the offer but I do have someone to spend it with, my best friend.” She may be projecting how _she_ would’ve felt in his place but she got the sense that Snatcher was extra lonely today. Why _else_ would he have been so willing to let her stay however long she wanted without moaning and groaning about it.

“Good,” the Captain said. “Just wanted to make sure, no one deserves to be alone today of all days.”

“Yes!” Hat Kid agreed with that sentiment wholeheartedly. When she returned home, she was going to have to bring this holiday with her, it was just too good not to. “I’ll let you get back to your celebration now. Goodbye and Merry Christmas!” She waved at them all again before using her phone to beam her back up to her ship.

Next, she went to the desert. Not to Dead Bird Studios though like she normally did, but to a place closer to the Conductor’s house – she too had scouted it out. She heaved the bag of gifts up onto her shoulder and walked the rest of the way. Luckily, though she couldn’t land right in front of it like she could with the Studio, it still wasn’t a long trip.

She rang the doorbell and waited for a response. … None came. So, she rang it again. … Still nothing. As she lifted her hand to rang it for a third time, suddenly the door opened. It was one of the Conductor’s grandkids, noticeably bigger than the last time she’d seen them on the boat – she’d expected as much because that was several months ago now, but it was still a bit of a surprise.

“Miss Hat Girl,” he said pointing at her and smiling.

Surprised he’d remembered her, Hat Kid smiled at him. “Yep, that’s me. Could you go get your grandad for me I need to…”

As if mentioning him summoned him, the Conductor’s voice came from inside the house, coming closer and cutting her off. “You little blighter’s better not have answered the pecking door or I’m gonna… Oh hey lassie, what are you doing here?” He’d stepped into the living room and come up behind his grandson.

“I’m here to wish you Merry Christmas and give you gifts,” she replied.

The Conductor gave her a skeptical look but before he could speak his grandson did. “Gifts! More gifts.” He even clapped in excitement.

“Yes, I brought gifts, for you and your grandad,” Hat Kid said, giving him a nod. There was no way the Conductor could turn here away now.

“Well, fine, come in then,” the Conductor said as he bent down to pick the little tyke up and pull him back, giving her space to come inside.

Unsurprisingly, the interior of his house was very western themed. There was a picture of the train the living room wall above the fireplace. And there was a Christmas tree in the corner, how quaint.

The rest of the grandkids were toddling into the living from what looked like might be the kitchen. Behind them was DJ Grooves, the absolute last person Hat Kid would’ve expected to see here. And he wasn’t wearing his stylish getup but plain dark clothing instead.

He froze at the sight of her, grimacing hard. “Uh… hi darling,” he said with a forced grin. “What are you doing here?”

“I brought gifts for the Conductor and the kids,” she said, not letting his awkwardness bother her. He’d been like that ever since the whole power of the Time Pieces had gotten to his head, leading to his attempt to kill her when she’d come to take the final one back. Even after she’d assured him it wasn’t a big deal, everyone else here had tried to kill her too, even the Conductor had almost got her killed when he’d tried to blow up his own train with her on it. “I got one for you too and I brought it down with me so it’s actually _great_ that you’re here so I don’t have to go over to your place after this. But why _are_ you here? Shouldn’t you be with your family?”

“Well uh… I don’t really got one. So the Conductor kindly invited me over to spend Christmas with him.”

“Oh… I ship it.” Hat Kid had always thought they’d make a cute couple if they’d just get along and they _finally_ were.

Grooves eyes widened, he even flinched a little. It was the Conductor who spoke first though. “What the peck does that mean? Are you insulting me?”

“No, it means…” Hat Kid began before Grooves interrupted her.

“Don’t worry about it. It ain’t important. Now uh… little girl, darling, you said you brought gifts.”

“Yep,” Hat Kid said, letting the topic change. The Conductor would probably figure out his relationship with DJ Grooves better without her interference anyway.

She handed out the gifts for the kids first. Much to all of their delight, she’d made them stuffed toys, modeled after various animals from her home planet. While they played loudly and excitedly, she went into the kitchen with Grooves and the Conductor to give them _their_ gifts.

For the Conductor, she’d gotten a model train. She’d ordered it special to look _just_ like his real train. His face lit up with what she was pretty sure – he was a bird (?) of some sort, his expressions were a bit harder for her to read – was shock and joy as he opened it.

For DJ Grooves, she’d made him a fancy boombox, modeled after the one on her ship but designed to play as many music formats as she could get it to. So he could buy new stuff for it as well as listen to the burnt copy of all her favourite music put onto a single CD.

“Ah darling, this is… it’s… _Why_?” He looked up at her with an almost desperate expression on his face. “After what I did…”

“Because I like Christmas.” It was fun holiday and seeing how happy everyone was with their gifts made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Don’t question it,” the Conductor said. “When someone’s nice to you when you don’t deserve it, you say ‘thank you’.”

“Uh… thank you darling.”

“Yes, lassie, this is a great gift and I appreciate that you got me grandkids gifts too. Now uh… if you don’t got nowhere else to be, you’re welcome to stay here.”

“Don’t worry, I have somewhere to be. You guys have fun.” She gave them another smile and a wave before beaming herself back up to her ship.

Now, there was only one more gift on the pile. Part of her almost couldn’t believe she was _really_ going to do this but… she picked it up anyway.

Finding Mustache Girl didn’t take her as long as she’d thought it would. She was right near the alleyway Hat Kid had first run into her upon landing on the planet what felt like ages ago now. She was in the little sheltered alcove to the side, wrapped in blanket in front of a meager fire… alone.

“Hey,” Hat Kid said as she came up behind her.

The way Mu jumped suggested she’d been sleeping or dozing off. She popped up to her feet, snapping around, her fists held up and ready to punch someone. She sighed and lowered them when she saw Hat Kid though. “What do you want?”

“It’s Christmas so I brought you a gift.” Hat Kid took a step closer to hold the gift towards her. “Merry Christmas.”

Mu frowned and narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms. “ _Why_? Is this a prank? Is there something that’s going to jump out and hurt me in that box?”

“No! I would _never_ do that.” Not that she’d never give a prank gift but the furthest she’d be willing to go is a glitter bomb. And she hadn’t done that here despite being tempted to; it was her first Christmas so every gift she gave had to be a real one. “It’s a gift because it’s Christmas. Now take it.”

“Why would you get _me_ a gift though?”

“Because it’s Christmas. A time for forgiveness and merriment. I’m not leaving until you accept it and open it.”

“Ugh, _fine_.” Mu snatched the box from her. She tore off the wrapping paper but the anger her face and in her stance melted when she lifted the lid to see what was inside. “It’s… another cloak?” She pulled it out, throwing the box to the side, to get a better look at it. It was very similar in style and look to the cloak she had now, the one that was noticeably dirty and torn.

“Yup. It’s a _special_ cloak though. I used the same yarn and technology to make it as my own hat. So, it has all the same powers.” She’d done the same for the hat she’d made for Snatcher even though his own inherent powers made it unnecessary hence her not feeling the need to mention it right away. “It should help you fight the Mafia.”

Mu stared at her for a few seconds in shock before a smile spread across her face. “ _Thank you_.” She hugged the cloak to her chest. “With this I can finally maybe do something and… and… thank you.”

Draping the new cloak over one arm, Mu awkwardly untied the old one with one hand. Once she had it off, she placed it gently on the ground before putting on the new one. Surprisingly though, she didn’t leave the old one there. She bent down to pick it up again and after a short pause, tied it around her waist like an awkward skirt, after securing the new one in place.

“How does it work?” she asked, turning to Hat Kid once she was done.

“Well, you kind of just have to try and it should work. To change what power you want it to have, you tap it while thinking about what you want it to do.” Hat Kid lifted a hand to demonstrate, cycling through all her hats until she was back at the classic top hat; it was her favourite even if its power wasn’t the most useful one.

Mu reached up and tapped her hood. Instead of changing shape it changed colours, the symbol on the back should change too but Hat Kid couldn’t see it right now. It was clearly working though as Mu was suddenly running in place. She did a quick lap around Hat Kid before changing it again, this time summoning a brewing potion.

She played with it for a bit, going through all the powers it had to offer, before she finally turned her attention back on Hat Kid. “This is so cool.”

Hat Kid almost asked if it was cooler than the Time Pieces but… it was best not to bring that up. “It is, isn’t it?” she said with a smile instead. “Anyway uh… it’s still Christmas. Not a good time to be fighting the Mafia. So you want to come hang out with me instead?” She hadn’t been planning on this but… she couldn’t leave Mu all alone on Christmas.

“Like… on your ship?”

“No, we’re going to hang out with Snatcher. He’s lonely too and needs the company even if he won’t admit it.”

“Isn’t that the big bad ghost guy from Subcon Forest?”

“Yep, he’s my best friend.”

Mu looked like she was going to say something before sighing and shaking her head. “I swear, you’re the only person who could ever befriend a soul eating ghost. But sure, why not? Let’s go hang out with the lonely ghost. It’s not like I have anything better to do today, fighting the Mafia can wait until tomorrow.”

“Yay!” Hat Kid pulled out her phone again to beam them back up to the ship. And then immediately back to Subcon Forest.

Before either of them could say anything or start down the path, Snatcher appeared in front of them. _Meaning_ , he’d been waiting for her to return… probably… maybe.

“You brought a friend,” he said, frowning at Mu.

“Yep,” Hat Kid said. “She was lonely too. So is it okay if she joins us?”

“Uh… I’ll be good, I promise,” Mu said, only a slight hint of nervousness in her voice as she looked up at Snatcher.

Snatcher frowned at them before letting out a long-suffering groan as the world around them shifted to purple. “Whatever, I don’t care.” The purple faded out, placing them in the closed up cozy hollow in front of the fire place again. “Just don’t be a nuisance.” He plopped down on his chair and starting reading again.

“He’s ‘soon-deh-ray’,” Hat Kid whispered to Mu.

“I heard that,” Snatcher snapped. “I don’t know what it means and knowing you, I probably don’t want to know. But it’s _rude_ to talk about people when they can hear you.”

“Sorry.” Hat Kid giggled as she pulled out the book Snatcher had gifted her. Her and Mu could read it together and _later_ Hat Kid would explain what ‘soon-deh-ray’ meant.

Snatcher grunted but otherwise didn’t respond. He’d brought them both here though to spend Christmas with him, so clearly he wanted them here. They were a bit of an odd group but who cared? They didn’t have anyone else to spend Christmas with so they might as well all hang out together.


End file.
